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Mark Mellett, New Chair of MARA, on Government Plans for 2,500 Wind Turbines Off Irish Coasts

19th July 2023
The MARA launch at Rosslare Europort, Co. Wexford. Pictured on board the LÉ Samuel Beckett is Mark Mellett, the Chair of the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority (MARA), Laura Brien Chief Executive of MARA, Darragh O'Brien T.D. Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Eamon Ryan TD, Minister for the Environment, Climate, Communications and Transport and Lieutenant Commander Aonghus Ó Neachtain
The MARA launch at Rosslare Europort, Co. Wexford. Pictured on board the LÉ Samuel Beckett is Mark Mellett, the Chair of the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority (MARA), Laura Brien Chief Executive of MARA, Darragh O'Brien T.D. Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Eamon Ryan TD, Minister for the Environment, Climate, Communications and Transport and Lieutenant Commander Aonghus Ó Neachtain Credit: Patrick Browne

“We are in a race for survival…”

The words of Mark Mellett, chair of MARA, the State’s first marine planning regulatory authority, which has just opened for business in Wexford.

If Government targets on renewable energy offshore are met, there will be up to 2,500 wind turbines off the south, west and east coasts, Mellett, former head of the Defence Forces, said in an interview with Wavelengths.

While just five turbines would yield enough power to match Ardnacrusha’s hydroelectric output on the Shannon, more will be needed for creating sustainable aviation fuels and other requirements, Mellett says.

However, this will not be a “developer-led” industry, he said, as the Government is taking a “plan-led approach” to locations, he says, and he pledged commitment to citizen engagement.

He also said he believes there will be “biodiversity net gain” in between offshore wind farm locations.

MARA - Darragh O'Brien T.D. Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Eamon Ryan TD, Minister for the Environment, Climate, Communications and Transport, Laura Brien Chief Executive of the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority (MARA) and Simon Coveney TD, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Photograph: Patrick BrowneMARA is launched in Wexford - Darragh O'Brien T.D. Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Eamon Ryan TD, Minister for the Environment, Climate, Communications and Transport, Laura Brien Chief Executive of the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority (MARA) and Simon Coveney TD, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Photograph: Patrick Browne

Headed by chief executive Laura Brien, MARA’s role will include assessing applications for maritime area consents (MACs), which are required before developers of offshore wind and other projects in the maritime area can make a planning application.

Here is the full interview below

Lorna Siggins

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Lorna Siggins

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Lorna Siggins is a print and radio reporter, and a former Irish Times western correspondent. She is the author of Search and Rescue: True stories of Irish Air-Sea Rescues and the Loss of R116 (2022); Everest Callling (1994) on the first Irish Everest expedition; Mayday! Mayday! (2004); and Once Upon a Time in the West: the Corrib gas controversy (2010). She is also co-producer with Sarah Blake of the Doc on One "Miracle in Galway Bay" which recently won a Celtic Media Award

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Afloat's Wavelengths Podcast with Lorna Siggins

Weekly dispatches from the Irish coast with journalist Lorna Siggins, talking to people in the maritime sphere. Topics range from marine science and research to renewable energy, fishing, aquaculture, archaeology, history, music and more...